[Defy Accessories] gramps50:
Zagg SmartBuds

by zagg.com

The ear buds that came with the Defy were nothing to write home about, for me the buds were to big and didn't fit my ears well, the ones that came with my Cliq XT were much better but didn't play well with the Defy. I like the Zagg Invisible Screen protectors for my electronic toys as my wife calls them I decided to check out their SmartBuds, which from reading reviews on I think this is maybe the 3rd generation of this product.

SmartBuds come packaged in a pyramid shaped box with he 2 buds visible at the top. The bottom opens and the entire insides slide out revealing the SmartBuds and a nice hardshell round zipper case for carring your new Buds. Inside the case is a small pouch where the extra bud ear pieces are stored or you can store maybe an extra SD card you choice.

What in the box

Zagg SmartBuds

Zipper case

Silicone tips - 3 sizes

Foam tips - 2 sizes

SmartBuds are a little different than the other ear bud type headset that I have now or have owned in the past. The SmartBuds are made to slip over your head so if the buds fall out or you need to take them out they will fall over your shoulder. This is real handy if you need to remove the buds as they will just hang there on your shoulder. This is accomplished with a sliding bead that the wires pass through to make the loop adjustable. There are 2 more sliding beads lower on the wire that allows you to adjust the cord in the front too.

The wire is protected with Zagg's Invisible Shield product so the wire doesn't tangle as much and if it does it seems a good shake will untangle it, nice feature when you have spend 15+ minutes untangling a pair of earbuds.

One end has a standard 3.5mm plug which is pretty much the standard now days on small electronic devices and is even the same used in my laptop so the SmartBuds can be used in things besides phones. Follow the wire up to a small plastic barrel that is the splitter as from there 2 wires continue for the left and right earbuds. A little further up on one of the single wires is another plastic barrel, this one has a button and a slider on it. Once I got the angle of the earbuds figured out they fit in my ears very well and are very comfortable, I have wore them for 3 or 4 hours without a problem or ear irritation.

The slider is an analog volume control that only effects the earbuds themselves so the main volume is set on the phone itself. The button control the music player or can be used to answer or hangup the phone. When the phone rings press it once and it will answer the phone, when finished press it again and it will hang up. Most music players will pause when the phone rings and continue when it is hung up. While listening to music 1 press of the button will pause the selection, another press will continue. 2 presses will forward to the next selection and 3 presses will go back to the previous selection. At least this is the way it works with PowerAmp, so your mileage may vary here.

I think the hole in the bead that is used for the adjusters could be a little smaller so that they don't slide so easy and would stay were put. This especially goes for the ones that goes behind the head. To test this theory I put a black wire tie through the hole to take up some of the extra space. The 2 front ones don't seem to matter.

The above is all well and good but I guess the real reason any of us bought earbuds in the 1st place was to listen to music, if we just wanted to talk and answer the phone we would have bought one of the bluetooth hang on ear thingees. My ears are not real sensitive so the audiophiles in the group may disagree and that is fine. I think the SmartBuds produce amazing sounds with good separation, I read in some other reviews about a lot of bass I didn't notice and thought the sound was on the flat side but still very pleasing even when not using and equalizer. Personally I like the PowerAmp preset named Bass/Trebble.

The Zagg SmartBuds are not the cheapest earbuds on the market and they are by no means the most expensive either. The list price at Zagg.com is now $49.95 and I dug around and found a 20% coupon so at $39.96 they are reasonable and I have heard reports of 50% off coupon codes from time to time, which at $25 is definitely a good deal.